There comes a point in our lives wherein we must take responsibility for our own learning.
Learning is different from education.
Education is often given to us or even imposed upon us.
Learning, on the other hand, requires our participation.
No matter what types of lessons are being offered to us, we cannot and we will not learn from them unless we actively participate in the process.
No one can make us do this.
It has to be our decision and it will require our effort.
We have to set the intention to learn.
Even with this, however, there is no guarantee that the knowledge we wish to acquire will actually take, at least not at first.
Like anything worth doing, learning is a process and, if what we are attempting to learn has actual life-changing value, it will not come to us easily.
It will be a slow process with many starts, stops, obstacles, and detours along the way.
Our dedication to this process is what proves our sincerity.
Or, our lack of dedication to this process will prove the opposite.
Either way, we are responsible for our choices, for our actions, or lack thereof.
While the goal of grappling, whether manifested as a throw, a pin, or a submission, is ultimately to impose our will on another person, this is much more easily accomplished if we can create circumstances within which our opponent actually gives us we want, instead of having to take it by force. In this way, he or she is actually helping us achieve our goal without even necessarily knowing it. The ability be victorious, however we define that, within conflict, without actually ‘fighting,’ is one of the unique qualities of jujutsu (the literal romanization of the Japanese 柔術) aka jiu-jitsu.
Obviously, within all grappling, there is resistance. However, the highest aim of the jujutsu practitioner should not be to face this resistance head on and to overcome resistance with a greater amount of directly opposing force. There is no efficiency in this approach and, as much as grappling is about imposing our will on another human, it is also about doing so efficiently, and the most efficient means by which to accomplish our goal is with our opponent’s consent and assistance, not in direct opposition to it.
As has been written elsewhere, our approach must be sincere and skillful if it is to be effective. For it to be efficient, however, our efforts toward our goal must be combined with, not in direct opposition to, our opponent’s efforts to stop us. This means, paradoxically, that, so long as we maintain our own safety and integrity, instead of trying to stop our opponent from acting against us, we must allow him or her just enough freedom to move unopposed in a direction that is both predictable and will ultimately lead him or her into a position wherein we are victorious, all without having to cause injury unnecessarily.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
One of the things that grappling teaches us is that people can sense a dishonest setup and, if we are to make actual progress toward our goal, our approach has to be sincere.
When setting up a throw, a pin, or a submission, we must be prepared that our initial attack may be countered and we must have a backup plan or two. However, this does not mean that our focus should be on our backup plan because that will make our primary attack less sincere and committed. There is no need, on our opponent’s part, to counter an insincere attack because it poses no real threat and, therefore, neither it, nor our secondary or tertiary attacks, will hold much weight in our favor.
Conversely, if our attack is sincere and true, and our opponent fails to counter it, for whatever reason, there is no need for us to follow up with successive attacks because we will have already been successful with our throw, pin, or submission. In other words, if our primary approach is honest and poses a real threat to our opponent and they do not counter it, they are thrown, pinned, or submitted, but if they do counter it, we move on to our secondary and then tertiary weapons without hesitation. We must always assume our opponent will counter our attack while also committing, but never overcommitting, to it.
The process of learning what approach works best for us against what counters is a lifetime’s worth of study in intention, motivation, and timing that goes well beyond the grappling mats. It requires having knowledgable, generous teachers, as well as sincere, skilled partners who work with, not against us for the longterm betterment of the group, instead of the short-term, selfish ‘win.’ It is easier to be sincere and forward thinking when we know that the people we are working with have the common goal of mutually beneficial improvement.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Meditations on God 